Less is more works for GPT

Getting on with it . . . Michael Cameron says management led from the front in the change.
Photo: Andrew Quilty

by
Ainslie Chandler

GPT Group
managing director
Michael Cameron
is a boss without an office. Or a permanent desk.

The property company has reduced its office space at the MLC Centre in Sydney’s CBD to three floors, with a new activity-based workplace fitout, meaning all staff operate with lockers and without allocated desks.

The new office model, which has also been adopted by a number of financial services groups including Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Macquarie Bank, allows workers to collaborate with different colleagues and in different spaces depending on their daily needs.

The GPT fitout also allows the company to operate with fewer desks and less office space and promotes sustainability, with less storage for paperwork and an emphasis on electronic storage of documents.

The transition to the new workplace has taken a major change management push by GPT.

Mr Cameron said there was some initial reluctance from staff and the company’s leadership team. But senior management eventually embraced the change.

“We tried to lead the way. Instead of sitting back and saying ‘we’re a bit different to everybody else but we expect everybody else to fit in’, we’ve said ‘we’re going to go paperless, we’re going to go officeless . . . and get on with it’."